Most of the country’s new apartments are going up right here in Houston

Most of the country’s new apartments are going up here in Houston

Houston is getting the biggest chunk of the apartments constructed this year.
Photo by RentCafe.com

Rents in Houston have been rising — alarmingly — for a while, but there might be some relief on the horizon. Of the more than 320,000 new apartments in the U.S. slated to reach completion this year, RentCafe reports that Texas can lay claim to about 70,000 of them.

That's 22 percent of the national inventory, spread out over Texas' four biggest metros of Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, Austin, and San Antonio.

Houston alone is gaining 25,935 units, which is seconded by DFW's 23,159 units. Filling out the top five are some heavy real estate hitters: New York, Los Angeles, and Washington.

Sixth-place finisher Austin is constructing 13,568 units, while San Antonio is putting out the welcome mat for 7,158 units.

This 50 percent increase in apartment construction should signal a cool-down in most big cities from the recently overheated pricing. Cuts in Houston's energy and mining industries have furthered this reprieve, resulting in a 3.4 percent rise in rent this year.

Of these new apartments, expect more than half of them to be one-bedroom units.